diff --git a/svgis/dom.py b/svgis/dom.py
index 54a5c3f..f3f6380 100644
--- a/svgis/dom.py
+++ b/svgis/dom.py
@@ -39,8 +39,11 @@ def ns(tag):
 
 def apply_rule(doc, rule):
     '''
-    Apply a tinycss Rule to an ElementTree.Element
-    (only tested on documents created by SVGIS).
+    Apply a tinycss Rule to an ElementTree.Element (only tested on documents created by SVGIS).
+
+    Args:
+        doc (ElementTree.Element): The svg document to scan.
+        rule (tinycss rule): Rule to apply.
     '''
     tokenlist = _build_tokenlist(rule.selector)
 
@@ -77,6 +80,9 @@ def _style_string(declaration):
 
 def _match_classes(elem_classes, rule_classes):
     '''Check if rule_classes all fall in elem_classes.'''
+    if isinstance(elem_classes, str):
+        elem_classes = elem_classes.split(' ')
+
     return all([c in elem_classes for c in rule_classes])
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_dom.py b/tests/test_dom.py
index 7fe9bef..0f0bcb8 100644
--- a/tests/test_dom.py
+++ b/tests/test_dom.py
@@ -60,12 +60,19 @@ def testApplyRule(self):
         dom.apply_rule(document, self.rules[0])
 
         polygon = document.find('.//{http://www.w3.org/2000/svg}polygon')
-        self.assertIn('fill:orange', polygon.attrib['style'])
 
         dom.apply_rule(document, self.rules[6])
 
         polyline = document.find(".//*[@id='meow']")
-        self.assertIn('stroke-opacity:0.50', polyline.attrib.get('style', ''))
+
+        try:
+            self.assertIn('fill:orange', polygon.attrib['style'])
+            self.assertIn('stroke-opacity:0.50', polyline.attrib.get('style', ''))
+
+        except AssertionError:
+            print(ElementTree.tostring(polygon, encoding='utf-8'))
+            print(ElementTree.tostring(polyline, encoding='utf-8'))
+            raise
 
     def testProcessTokens(self):
         document = self.document()
diff --git a/tests/test_style.py b/tests/test_style.py
index df540e5..5e56bc0 100644
--- a/tests/test_style.py
+++ b/tests/test_style.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class CssTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
                     <polyline id="baz" class="foo" points="3,2 -2,6 8,-1"></polyline>
                 </g>
                 <g id="cat">
-                    <polyline id="meow" points="3,2 -2,6 8,-1"></polyline>
+                    <polyline id="meow" class="long-class-name" points="3,2 -2,6 8,-1"></polyline>
                 </g>
             </g>
         </svg>"""
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ class CssTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
                 #test ~ #foo { fill: purple; }
                 #cat polyline { fill: red }"""
 
+    css1 = '''.class-name { fill: orange;}'''
+
     file = 'tests/test_data/test.svg'
 
     classes = ('apple', 'potato')
@@ -198,6 +200,16 @@ def testCDATA(self):
 
         self.assertIn(content.encode('utf8'), string)
 
+    def testPartialStyleName(self):
+        doc = ElementTree.fromstring(self.svg).find('./' + dom.ns('g'))
+        ruleset = style._parse_css(self.css1)
+
+        dom.apply_rule(doc, ruleset.rules[0])
+        svg = ElementTree.tostring(doc, encoding='utf-8').decode('utf-8')
+        self.assertNotIn('orange', svg)
+
+        inlined = style.inline(self.svg, self.css1)
+        self.assertNotIn('orange', inlined)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()